Margaret D'Ille Gleason

Social worker. Margaret D'Ille (1879–1954) headed the Community Welfare Section at Manzanar for nearly the entire life of the camp.

Margaret Matthew was born in Springfield, Illinois, the eldest of twelve children. The family moved to California when she was ten when her father, Rev. W. S. Matthew, became a dean at the University of Southern California. She graduated from the University of California, and after a stint as a teacher in Berkeley, joined the staff of the national YMCA, working first in New England, then spending ten years in Japan starting in 1908, where she became fluent in the Japanese language. After two years in Siberia working for the Red Cross, she returned to the U.S., becoming general secretary of the Oakland YMCA in 1927. In 1935 she married Arthur D'Ille, but was left a widow shortly thereafter, subsequently becoming a social worker for the California State Relief Administration. ^[1]

The sixty-two year old D'Ille arrived at Manzanar on July 6, 1942 to head the Family Relations Section, under Chief of Community Services Thomas Temple. She replaced an incarceree, Miya Kikuchi , who had held that position since the camp's opening as "reception center" under the administration of the Wartime Civil Control Agency. It turned out that Kikuchi and D'Ille had known each other from the time Kikuchi was a student at the University of California. Shortly after her arrival, a reorganization put her in charge of the Community Welfare Section. ^[2]

Working with a staff of incarceree workers, D'Ille oversaw a wide range of services as Community Welfare head, including overseeing public assistance grants, clothing allowances, family counseling, marriages and funerals, a community hostel (what we would to today call a rehabilitation facility), the Children's Village orphanage, and a sewing project whose workers produced clothing and household goods. A longtime friend of Ralph Merritt, who became Manzanar's director in November 1942, she also played a key role as an advisor and calming influence after the December 1942 uprising, paying a visit to the family of shooting victim James Ito and being among the group that decided on the fate of both the incarceree group removed to Death Valley for their own protection and the dissident group sent to isolation centers. During the segregation process that took place after registration in 1943, D'Ille was among those who interviewed those deemed "disloyal" or who requested repatriation/expatriation to determine who would be sent to the Tule Lake Segregation Center. D'Ille was also played a visible role in Manzanar community life, serving as a board member or advisor to camp Red Cross and YWCA/YMCA groups, organizing Christmas parties and other events, and frequently speaking at camp forums on topics such as "My Experiences in Japan" or "Religion and Marriage." D'Ille remained at Manzanar until the end. ^[3]

While at Manzanar, she renewed acquaintances with former YMCA colleague George Gleason, who visited the camp often with Herbert Nicholson. Shortly after the war she and Gleason married. Settling in Los Angeles, they were active in the Mount Hollywood Congregational Church led by Allan A. Hunter. Margaret D'Ille Gleason died on March 19, 1954, at age seventy-four. ^[4]